Network News

Austrian Airlines Will Increasingly Rely on Rail Service between Linz and Vienna

AIRail: Positively received by passengers

17 flights per week from Linz still operated by Austrian Airlines: up to 2x daily on the Linz-Düsseldorf route and 6x per week between Linz and Vienna as of April 1, 2015

8 direct connections each day with AIRail from Vienna Airport to Linz Central Railway Station

4 daily Linz-Frankfurt flights with Lufthansa

AIRail, the cooperation between Austrian Airlines and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) which launched rail service between Linz Central Railway Station and Vienna Airport as of December 14, 2014, has been very well received by passengers. Many Upper-Austrians take advantage of this offering and combine air and rail travel. Therefore, Austrian Airlines will increasingly transfer ultra-short-haul flights between the Upper Austrian federal capital and Vienna to the rail service. Thus, the domestic carrier follows a trend that can be observed in ultra-short-haul flights in Europe. The contract with Welcome Air, which has been serving the Linz-Vienna route on behalf of Austrian Airlines since 2012 within the context of a so-called wet lease agreement, was therefore not extended. The four daily flights currently operated by Welcome Air will be terminated as of March 31, 2015. Austrian Airlines will continue to offer its morning flight service from Linz to Vienna using a Dash 8-Q400 and the evening flight from Vienna back to Linz. Starting on April 1, 2015, there will only be six flights from Linz to Vienna each week instead of the previous five flights per day. Flight service offered by Austrian Airlines up to twice per day from Linz to Düsseldorf will remain unchanged.

From Linz Central Railway Station to Vienna Airport with AIRail in less than two hours
Combined with a connecting Austrian flight, passengers can take advantage of the new rail connections offered by ÖBB between Linz Central Railway Station and Vienna Airport featuring an Austrian Airlines flight number. On balance, eight train connections from Vienna to Linz are available to travelers every day, and seven from Linz to Vienna. The total time required to reach Vienna Airport from Linz Central Railway Station is one hour and 47 minutes. Rail service will be further expanded as of December 2015: ÖBB railjets and IC (Intercity) trains will be deployed at 30 minute intervals and travel time will be reduced to one hour and 42 minutes.

AIRail: Collect miles as with flights and enjoy guaranteed connections
Parallel to the flight connections, Austrian Airlines passengers can collect miles with AIRail on the Linz-Vienna route within the context of the Miles & More program. In addition, they benefit from guaranteed connections to enable them to conveniently continue their journeys, whether by plane or train. An ÖBB porter helps passengers at the train platforms in Linz and Vienna Airport with loading and unloading their baggage. Austrian Airlines’ Business Class passengers travel first class by train and also enjoy free access to the newly designed ÖBB lounge before leaving Linz Central Railway Station.

Austrian Airlines adds Odessa to its Route Network

Austrian expands its focus on the Eastern European market

4x weekly to Odessa starting March 30, 2015

Five destinations in the Ukraine: Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Lviv and Odessa

In 2015 Austrian Airlines will once again add a new destination in its focus market of Eastern Europe to its flight schedule: Starting on March 30, 2015, Austria’s national carrier will fly to Odessa in the Ukraine four times per week, namely on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The flights will be carried out using a Fokker aircraft. “The Ukraine continues to be one of the most important markets for Austrian Airlines in Eastern Europe, not to mention the fact that most of these passengers transfer to other flights in our network to destinations in Western Europe, the Middle East or on North Atlantic routes”, says Austrian Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Andreas Otto. “Although the crisis has led to weakened demand over the past year, we continue to see considerable potential in this market”.

Austrian Airlines currently offers flights to four destinations in the Ukraine. With the addition of Odessa, Austria’s national carrier is increasing the number of Ukrainian destinations to five in addition to Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv.

At the present time Austrian Airlines still has a codeshare on flights from and to Odessa with the airline Ukraine International, which is terminating its flight service on this route as at the end of the winter flight schedule 2015.

Austrian Airlines expands Flight Service to Athens

Austrian Airlines increases weekly offering to and from Athens by four flights

Up to eleven flights per week to the Greek capital

Additional transfer capacity to North America and Western Europe

Austrian Airlines is expanding its flight service to and from Athens. Starting on April 29, 2015, it will offer four additional night flights per weeks from Vienna to Athens and back. As a result, Austria’s national airline will operate up to eleven weekly flights to and from Athens.

The additional offering strengthens flight connections in both directions and thus also the Vienna to Athens hub-to-hub connection on the basis of four additional frequencies. The decisive point is that the expanded flight service creates additional transfer possibilities for passengers via the Vienna hub, for example from Athens to Western Europe and in particular to North America. With transfer passengers comprising 75% of the total on this route, Austrian Airlines is now able to offer its passengers additional capacity in the Austrian Airlines route network.

The new flight times include four evening flights between Vienna and Athens: